Go to Ft. DeSoto County park. It is beautiful, almost deserted beaches. It was named a Top 10 Beach by Dr. Beach a few years ago. I have walked along the beach with schools of dolphins there.

As for food, you can’t go wrong with Ted Peter’s Smoked Fish, a St. Pete landmark. The fish is delicious. The fish dip is delicious. The potato salad is delicious. It is all delicious. It is not fancy.

When in FL I always try to eat at TooJays for my favorite cake, mounds cake. Delicious! The place is a deli, so if you get good deli where you live you might not want to bother. Their pastrami on rye is delicious. The bread tastes baked there, not sure if it is, and the pastrami is National Deli, which is premium stuff. I also like their matzah ball soup, but since it is summer that is probably not appealling, and their chicken salad on salad with the mandarin/orange dressing is yummy if you like a sweeter dressing.

Gotta say it again, the mounds cake is amazing! Like the candy bar, coconut and chocolate, bunches of layers, so good.

Also, you might want to check out the Don Cesar Hotel in St. Peter Beach. It is a 1920s grand hotel – a pink palace. Have lunch there and walk around. Another fun hotel is the Vinnoy down by the pier. There, you can do a historic walking tour of the hotel and have lunch included in an elegant dining room on certain days.

Frenchie’s and The Royal Palm in Clearwater Beach are fun. One of the best restaurants in the whole area is The Black Pearl in Dunedin about 35 minutes from St. Petersburg.